Alaska State Troopers: June 11June 2 At 9:30 a.m., Alaska Wildlife Troopers contacted a Kodiak man while sport fishing in Chiniak Bay. He was cited for having no visual distress device aboard the vessel. June 3 Alaska Wildlife Troopers contacted an Oregon man and found that he did not meet the state residency requirements when he purchased resident licenses for 2014 and 2015, and when he purchased a 2014 commercial crewmember license. He was i...

Rehabbed seal headed south before tracker stoppedLast September, the Alaska SeaLife Center released a rehabilitated harbor seal that had been found on a beach in Kalsin Bay, and he swam around toward the Alaska Peninsula and south to the limits of the Kodiak Island Borough before his tracker fell off. A kayaker found the seal, named Mt. Everest by the center, on a small island in Kalsin Bay as a baby being pecked on by sea gulls one year ago. He was shipped to t...

KMXT-FM Bear Crawl enters second yearThe inaugural KMXT-FM Bear Crawl event was so popular last year that the station had no choice but to bring it back again. This year’s event will take place this Saturday at the Kodiak Island Fairgrounds. The first wave goes off at 9 a.m. The Bear Crawl is a 1.25-mile course that features nine obstacles that racers have to navigate around. Some of the obstacles include the buoy jungle, the fisherman’s craw, the ne...

Driver summoned after vehicle crashed, caught fireA vehicle crashed and caught fire on Friday and the driver was issued a summons and cited for violations, according to an Alaska State Trooper report. A silver 2003 Chevrolet Impala operated by Dakota Rickard, 20, reportedly was driving on Rezanof Drive near the end of the airport when the vehicle hit the guard rail and caught fire at 12:22 a.m. Friday. The driver reportedly left on foot while police and firefight...

Bike rodeo set for SundayCycling safety is the emphasis of a bike rodeo this Sunday to educate adults and kids about traffic laws, signaling, turns, safety gear and more. Island Trails Network has held bike rodeos before, but those have been indoors with limited space. Sunday’s rodeo will be held outdoors and allow bikers to practice skills on roads in the Nemetz Gazebo area. During the rodeo, several stations staffed by volunteers will b...

Kodiak shines at Special Olympics Summer GamesKodiak’s Special Olympic athletes cleaned up at the state summer games that concluded Sunday in Anchorage. The island’s swimming and powerlifting squads combined to win 22 gold medals and two silver medals at the annual games that bring more than 250 athletes together over the three-day event. The power lifting team, which consisted of Amy Canavan, Aharon Dolph, Chris Kavanaugh, Ben Stahlhut and Brittany Tregarthe...

Borough sets timeline, process for replacing AustermanThe Kodiak Island Borough issued a “timeline” Tuesday, outlining the process to be followed to appoint a new member after the resignation of Assemblywoman Carol Austerman. Austerman announced at the June 4 assembly meeting that she would be resigning at the end of June. According to the borough document, the assembly will be declaring the seat vacant at its July 2 meeting. Because more than 90 days are left in Aus...

Mountain Views: Learning to become a healer is painful at times Every career begins somewhere with a physical space and a set of people. Together, these make moments in time. The several thousand square feet where I spent the bulk of the first seven years of my career as a physical therapist is dark, as the clinic was recently relocated. If those now-empty clinic walls could speak, they would have stories of laughter, tears. Of successes and disappointments. Good news of progr...

Help your Navy Vietnam veteransTo the Editor, It has become common opinion among Vietnam War Veterans that Congress tends to exclude mostly Blue Water Vietnam veterans for VA benefits. This group of veterans never had boots on ground Vietnam, yet just the same they are sick due to Agent Orange exposure. It seems Congress and the VA consider these veterans not worthy. There are limited benefits to those who served in country, and those who serve...

Jun 10, 2015 | 0 | 21 |

by
John Bury, US Navy, retired, Vietnam War VeteranKodiak Daily Mirror

Rocks from space in Alaska backcountryOn February 26 at 1:06 p.m., someone in northern Alaska may have seen a torch of light in the cold daytime sky. On that afternoon, satellites detected a meteoric fireball headed toward Earth. An asteroid six feet in diameter penetrated the atmosphere at 13 miles per second, piercing the protective shell of gases at a steep angle. Arriving from the northwest, the asteroid exploded 21 miles above the ground. A spray...